I wish I could justify geekily seeing it half a dozen times or whatever in theater, but I don’t think I can. I just don’t have that much time. While I’m watching a movie at home, I can do something else too. I don’t go to the theater much, though, so this is only the second movie (after Matrix 1) that I’ve seen twice on the big screen. I guess that honor’ll have to be enough. :(

It’s bizarre that it’s still this tense, emotional and surprising the second time around. I think I finally have a trio of favourite films.

Of course, this (trainable) guy has a different opinion.

I wish I could answer that question with a clip, but ripping from a DVD is a process that still eludes me. It’s not really an answer, in fact, it’s just the first scene with Wash in it in the pilot shows him playing with them. It was the scene they asked people to do when auditioning for Wash, so it’s what Alan Tudyk does best. They never really come up again, except one brief mention, and the pilot with that scene in it wasn’t aired until after the rest of the aborted series.

I’m surprised it’s not getting as strong a reaction as it deserves now that it’s out. Perhaps the early reviews and buzz went too far and built it up impossibly. Can you have too much word of mouth? Apparently first weekend numbers were okay but not brilliant; hopefully it’ll keep selling.

Every time it looked like it was going to fall into some sci-fi cliche, it did something unexpected.

And the pilot’s death was something much commented on as very well done.

As a geek who has seen nary a second of the show (no Fox here, P2P’s down right now, and still saving up for the set), it’s not impossible that I’m uniquely qualified to comment on it from an outsider’s perspective. In short, great film. Every person whose opinion I trust even a little had hyped it, so I went in with very high expectations – and the movie cruised on by them with its colors streaming off the mainmast.

One remarkable thing that sort-of deservedly gets tucked away behind the masterful characterization, SFX and humor is consistency – not only is this a universe that at its best is willing to entrust its viewers with silent space battles, real danger and callous necessities, but as far as I can recall there are no stupid moments – no boneheaded motivations, no points where Hollywood’s hand darts in and gives someone a push. Even among first-rate films, few manage that seamless intelligence. Well done and encore!

…And Firefly has a massive fan following, at least in the US, because it’s just awesome – right up there with Lost, Futurama, etc. If you have even a gram of Geek in you, see the film and grab the series.

The RSS feed title is part of the cunning hidden workings of this site – those numbers slot it in where I want it in the Best Films page, which is ordered alphabetically, going by the hidden numbers put in there to subvert it to preference order.

Plus, Whedon has said he’s not entirely sure he can imagine taking the characters back to the small screen anyway. He’s happy with them up on the big screen, and he’s fine with there being a Serenity 2 anyway, assuming the first is a success.

Really hope Wonder Woman doesn’t suck though. And the proposed Spike telemovie, which he’s asked Minear to start writing.